Sussex students vote against renaming President role

Sussex students voted against renaming the title of President in a referendum on the issue this week.

65% of the 866 students that took part in the poll voted to keep the existing title, rather than replacing it with ‘Union Affairs Officer’.

Students also voted in favour of a risk assessment before finalising any possible boycott of the National Student Survey, by 57% to 43%, in a national poll called for by the National Union of Students.

929 students voted in four different referenda, with a landslide majority for supporting the continued boycott of Nestle and Coca-Cola products.

However, voting remains open for a referendum on boycotting the NUS, after the arguments for and against were mistakenly excluded from the latest edition of The Badger by the Students’ Union.

In a statement on their website, the Students’ Union said: “These mistakes were human errors that the Students’ Union takes full responsibility for and have already implemented measures to address how they happened. We do recognise that the mistake regarding the National Student Survey boycott referendum question might have had an impact on the voters. Thusly, we have extended the voting period for that question.”

Voting for the NSS boycott question will close on Tuesday December 6 at 5pm.

REFERENDA RESULTS:

Should the Students’ Union continue to boycott Nestle products?

YES – 66% (565 votes) NO – 34% (287 votes) 34 abstentions

Should the Students’ Union continue to boycott Coca-Cola products?

YES – 64% (538 votes) NO – 36% (301 votes) 31 abstentions

Should the role of President be re-named to ‘Union Affairs Officer’?

YES – 35% (255 votes) NO – 65% (464 votes) 147 abstentions

Should NUS conduct and publish a risk assessment and equality impact assessment before finalising the NSS boycott/sabotage action?